How much Maintenance will the Wife receive?
- The amount of Maintenance will be decided by the Family Justice Court after considering the following factors:
- Financial needs of the Wife
- Income, earning capacity, property and other financial resources of both the Wife and Husband
- Any physical or mental disability of the Wife
- Age of each party and the duration of the marriage
- Contributions made by each of both parties to the marriage to the welfare of the family, including any contribution made by looking after the home or caring for the family
- Standard of living enjoyed by the Wife before the Husband neglected or refused to provide reasonable Maintenance for the Wife
- Any value or benefit which one party would stand to lose as a result of the Divorce (e.g. pension)
- Conduct of both parties
- The Husband’s duty to maintain the former Wife will typically end upon his death or when the Wife remarries (whichever is earlier)
- The Family Justice Court typically aims to place both parties in the financial position in which they would have been if the marriage had not broken down
- The general aim of requiring a former Husband to maintain his former Wife is to even out any financial inequalities between parties, taking into account any economic prejudice suffered by the former Wife during the marriage (e.g. financial loss when a Wife sacrificed her career or lost out in her earning capacity in order to look after the family)
